Dreams end
by PenandInk17
Summary: It’s just so real, I can hear the pounding of my feet as they hit the ground, I can feel the burning in my lungs from the lack of oxygen... STORY ON HOLD DUE TO WHEATHER CONDITIONS
1. Chapter 1

Edmond chased Jane across the garden and into the green house.  
Knowing she was hiding somewhere inside. He walked slowly looking for her and once noticing her under one of the tables he crouched down to see her.

"Finders Keepers and I found it!" said Jane with a very matter of fact tone  
"Yeah, In my garden" replied Edmond in the same mocking voice.

Jane started to loosen her grip on the prize she was holding so tightly.  
As her hand opened she unveiled the crystal pendant she had found; as soon as Edmond saw it he snatched it from her hand and ran.

"Finders keepers!" He yelled over his shoulder.

Jane immediately jumped up and chased him she was just enough behind him to miss him duck  
behind what looked like the remnants of a wall.

Edmond breathed in deeply trying to catch his breath and tried to remain as silent as possible.  
As he watched Jane, who was very close to where he was hiding, look for him. Soon Edmonds breathing evened out and he thought that he had gotten away with the crystal pendant.  
Suddenly, he heard a loud creak beneath him and then an even louder crack. He let out a cry of panic and fear when the ground that he had been standing on gave way beneath him and he felt himself fall.

Falling for what seemed like eternity as his small body smashed against the walls of the stone tunnel that he had found himself in.  
His skin being scraped against the jagged corners of where the stone had broken off and the ruff walls rubbing his skin raw.  
When he finally hit the bottom it knocked the wind out of him and he instantly felt a sharp pain in his left arm that was now twisted  
underneath him. In an instant he felt his whole world start to spin he was fighting it so hard and so encompassed in it that he  
didn't even hear Jane calling him from above, he just shut his eyes tight and prayed that it would stop as the darkness overcame him.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

With a gasp Rodney McKay sat straight up in bed sending his laptop, which he had left on his lap when he had fallen asleep, flying through the air.

Panic completely taken hold of him, the feeling of falling still in his stomach, the darkness of the tunnel still in his eyes.  
He passed his hands over his face trying to get himself to focus on the now, he had a cold sweat on his forehead his breathing was rasped and shallow. He tried desperately to get his hands to stop shaking as the dream he had, had slowly gave way to the  
waking world.

"It was just a dream" he said to himself, his voice sounding both shocked and amazed.

It was the most realistic dream he had ever had. He felt like he was there, like he was that boy. He could still smell the flowers and with a shiver he felt the damp, coldness of the tunnel, but the pain was the most realistic to him, so real that he preceded to look for all the scrapes and bruises he expected to find. He was just about to check his arm to see if he had broken it when he realized what he was doing.

"It wasn't real!" He tried to convince himself.

Then as if he had to prove it to someone, he jumped out of  
bed as fast as he could, but just then a wave of dizziness came over him so strong that it pushed him pack on his bed.  
He reassured himself that it was just because he had gotten up to fast but still the dizziness clung to him. So he tried once again, slowly this time, to get up.

Slowly heeased himself off his bed being very careful not to upset the delicate balance of the dizziness in his head.  
When he finally stood up he clung to his chair that was next to his bed, closed his eyes, and tried again to calm himself down from the fears that still over whelmed him. When he finally opened his eyes he decided that a good shower was what he needed. So, slowly and carefully he made his way to the bathroom. As he moved he felt all the pains from the fall that he had dreamt, he didn't even try to move the arm that he thought he had broken. His whole body ached. He tried to convince himself that it was just from the terrible mattress that the military people forced him to sleep on, which he had already complained about. He made a mental note to talk to Carson and see if he could some how make a medical request for a new one.

When Rodney finally reached the bathroom door he placed one hand on the wall for balance and the other he touched the panel to open the door. Just as the door slid open he heard his radio beep, with a moan he turned his head towards the sound now realizing that it was on the other side of the room. Turning a little to quickly he felt as if the room had jumped and turned on its side, his eyes unable to focus on the now spinning room he felt the bile rise in his throat. Unable to hold it down he emptied his stomach until his hands shook and his thought stung. Feeling the pain, the dizziness, and now the awful taste in his mouth over whelmed him. With the room still spinning all he could do was close his eyes and pray that it would all go away. As he did, he felt darkness creep over him and feeling as bad as he did, he welcomed it and knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry I know I should have put this on the first chapter but I forgot. So here it is.  
Better late then never.

-Disclaimer- I don't own anything. Not a thing. Sadly it has all been spoken for. Sniff, sniff..

"Where the hell is Rodney?" Shepard yelled out to no one in particular.

Rodney had asked Shepard to meet him in his lab that morning and he had INSISTED that it be early, which of course John thought was insane considering it was his day off and he had planned on sleeping in. But Rodney had begged him to help with trying to activate some ancient devises. Rodney can be a very convincing man when he wants his way, he just goes on and on until finally you give in just to get him to be quite. Which is exactly what happened to John yesterday.

John tapped his foot impatiently and looked at his watch for about the tenth time in the matter of two minutes.

"fifteen minutes late! I get up before the break of dawn just to sit around and wait for him!".

John turned towards Dr. Zelenka who was sitting at one of the desks doing research on one the devises. Curiosity, for the moment, making him forget about how late Rodney was. As he looked over Zelenka's shoulder under one of the microscopes was what looked like to John some kind of crystal, maybe it was diamond he didn't really know, but it looked like some kind of charm. You know the kind you wear. He couldn't remember the word for it. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his watch that beeped at him saying that another five minutes had gone by which brought John right back to his thoughts of Rodney wasting his day off.

"Do you not think this is insane?" John asked in desperation for some backup on his opinion of the situation.

Zelenka who had been so enamored in his work hadn't even noticed that Rodney was late until Shepard had said something about it. He made a worried glance to his watch,

"I don't know what could be keeping Rodney. He is never this late for anything. Especially when it comes to turning on Ancient devices." Zelenka's worried response was very obvious in his tone.

The nervousness in Zelenka's voice yanked John out of his bad mood and snapped him into his military mode of thinking of all the things that could be wrong.

John immediately tapped his radio, "Rodney this is Col. Shepard, where are you?." No response.

John thought for moment, anxiety starting to creep up on him as all the scenarios of what could be wrong raced through his head.

"Why didn't I think something was wrong before?" he thought to himself in frustration.

Having an idea he once again tapped his radio on, "Dr. Weir this is Shepard, have you seen Rodney any where?"

Dr. Weir's worried voice responded over the radio "No I haven't seen him. Is something wrong?"  
John was really starting to get worried now.

"I don't really know. He was supposed to meet me twenty minutes ago in his lab and he's yet to show. I've been trying to get him on his radio all morning with no luck."

"Okay, then I'll start asking around and see if anyone has seen him, in the mean time why don't you go down to his room and make sure every things all right." She managed to say very proficiently.

"Will do." Shepard answered trying to sound calm.

"Oh and Shepard give me an update when ever you find anything out. Okay?" She asked sounding amazingly light hearted which John knew better then to believe. She was really good at hiding her feelings much to John's dismay of trying to read her true thoughts.

"Of course. You'll be the first to know. Shepard out." he said with a click to his radio.

Shepard was just about to walk out of the lab when Zelenka stopped him, "Would you please let me know as well when you find something." he asked

"Of course." Shepard answered trying to sound confident. Zelenka just nodded his thanks as Shepard turned on his heals and left the room.

Trying to fight the urge to run all the way there in panic, Shepard managed to keep it at a fast walk and a dead pan face. All the while his mind reeling with theories of disaster.

Quickly he made a turn running right into one of the many doctors in Atlantis.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Col. Shepard! I, I didn't see you!" The female doctor barely managed to spit out.

Shepard unwillingly turned his worried thoughts from Rodney to this woman who was standing in front of him, who for the life of him could not remember her name. She had rather frizzy curly red hair, big blue eyes and freckles covered her pale skin. She was medium in height. About 5.4 Shepard guessed. Her body type was average, kind of bulky on the shoulders which kind of made her resemble a foot ball player. She wore the usual doctors uniform a white coat and black pants and she had, to Shepard's surprise, a rather high pitched voice that didn't seem to go with the way she looked.

"It's fine. It was my fault I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going." Shepard said while trying to walk past her,

"Oh, no it really was my fault." She said lightly touching John's shoulder to get his attention." You see I was reading this report and not even looking to where I was going ."

The woman was babbling now and John was getting a little annoyed. If something was wrong with Rodney he needed to go. He didn't have time for this. John tried to take a small step towards the direction of Rodney's room.

"Maybe if I just start walking away she'll get the hint that I don't want to talk." John thought to himself, but it didn't work the woman just went on all the while.

As John was taking slow steady steps away from her, she continued "When I start working I just get in the zone." She said this with much enthusiasm making hand gestures indicating some kind of tunnel. "You know what I mean? What am I saying? Of course you do! Your only the chief military officer on base!"

After saying this she did a kind of giggle mixed with a sigh. John tried to give her a smile but ended up just giving her an uneasy expression of being uncomfortable Which of course she completely missed or ignored.

All the while John who had been slowly walking away from her the entire time and was now walking backwards still having to face her because she just kept on talking to him.

He was way over the edge, this woman was driving him crazy he had to leave! If not for anything else but to get away from her high pitch babbling.

Putting up a hand indicating that he wanted her stop speaking he said very calmly "I'm sorry but I really have to go check up on some things. It was really nice talking to you" Shepard said politely and fake at the same time.

Then he made another attempted at leaving. Just when he thought he had gotten away she stopped him in mid turn around. John clenched his fists "So close!" he whispered to himself.

"Of course you have things to check up on! You being you and all! I mean I'm so sorry for keeping you . I tend to babble a lot." She said in one breath.

"Babble? What? You? No way!." Shepard thought sarcastically to himself. "It's fine I'll just catch up with you later." he said forcing a smile.

"Oh, no you really don't have to, I mean that is of course if you really want to." She started to babble out again.

Shepard was on the verge of just grabbing this woman and shaking her in frustration. He could visualize himself doing it.

"No can't go there…as much as I would like to." he thought to himself evilly. Shepard grabbed her hand and shook it instead, "yes, yes of course lets do lunch" he heard himself saying much to his dread of having to spend more time with this amazingly annoying woman.

Quickly he turned on his heals and half walked half leapt away from her. She was yelling something at him now but he just pretended like he didn't hear her.

"If I stop she'll start talking to me again." he said as if he had to convince himself.

Right after thinking those thoughts he ran once again into somebody else who of course with Shepard's luck was carrying a pot of hot coffee which was dumped all over him. The pain of having hot coffee poured on him stopped him in his tracks. The babbling woman was by his side in an instant.

"Col. Shepard! Oh no, did you not hear me when I was calling you to look out? Of course you didn't if you had, this wouldn't of happened! I'm so sorry!"

Shepard closed his eyes, he didn't know which was worse getting burnt by hot coffee or this woman talking to him again.

"I'm fine, I just need to get a change of clothes" he breathed his words out through clenched teeth.

"Oh, no your not. Your going to go down to the infirmary to get checked out first." said a familiar voice with a thick Scottish accent.

"Oh, no." Shepard mumbled to himself.

He looked up from the ground to Dr. Becket who now had a good grip on Shepard's arm keeping him from making an escape.

"Look, you don't understand I need to go find Rodney you see..." He was cut off by the worried doctor "Rodney can wait. That was very hot coffee. You may have second degree burns in which case you need to go down to the infirmary for treatment." Carson set his jaw when he said this letting him know that he would not be moved.

"But Rodney.." Shepard tried to get out, "No buts. Any more complaining about it and I'll make it an order., It won't take more then a few seconds." Carson tried to reassure him.

Shepard seeing no way out bowed his head in compliance and started to stalk off to the infirmary with that blasted babbling woman following him. "What ever is going on with Rodney, I'm sure its not as bad as what I'm going through right now!" he thought to himself.

!Please review and tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer-**I don't know own anything. Not a thing. Sad but true.

Screams! That's all he could hear. So many, so loud. Woman, children, men, boys, girls. All around him. Screams of pure terror and fear, mingled with helplessness and pain.

"Who is that screaming? Where am I? Oh God, I'm dead! I'm dead and they sent me to hell!" Rodney thought to himself franticly. "Alright McKay lets get a hold of ourselves. I'm way to smart for them to send me to hell and this defiantly does not sound like heaven so therefore I must not be dead ."

Amazingly enough this thought gave him some comfort.

"I'm sure there's a logical explanation for all of this. I'll just try and listen to the screams and see if I can recognize any of the voices."

As he listened he heard, or rather he made out, one scream that seemed somewhat familiar but then again so unfamiliar. As he concentrated on this one voice, this one scream for help he suddenly realized that it was his own and almost like a flood he felt the same terror and fear, that he had been hearing, come over him.  
This made Rodney's thoughts a jumbled mess. A scrap heap of unrealistic theories and undesirable images of his impending doom.

After a short while, the panic subsided some what and he was able to think a little more clearly about what was going on around him.

"I can't see! Why can't I see?" He asked himself fearfully.

As soon as he finished the thought he immediately realized that his eye's were closed.

"Well that was stupid Rodney! I couldn't see because my eyes were closed! Brilliant!"

after making a mental list of all his faults he finely decided to try and open his eyes.

But the fear that held him kept them glued shut.  
As if they some how knew better then to open. As hard as he tried to pry them open he could not.

"Great! Just great! My eyes don't work! Lets just throw another log on the fire!"

His train of thought was interrupted when suddenly, over all the screams he heard a little girls scream. So loud and ear piercing she could not be but a few feet away.

Then all at once these feelings of love and protectiveness came over him for this little girl. Just as over powering and as suddenly as the fear and terror he had felt before. They some how, for a moment, out weighed all his fears and he immediately opened his eyes to look for the her. But the site that met his eyes held him in his place.

He was in a city, or at least what was left of one, there was such a fog he could barley make out what he saw. The walls that lay around him were broken to pieces. Crumbled down as if some mighty force had pushed them over. The air was filled with what looked like dust but when Rodney breathed it in he knew it was not dust but sand as it coated his throat and mouth, and stung his eyes. Still trying to catch his breath from the coughing fit he had just had, he tried to look around again. Every thing seemed to be made out of some kind of light brown stone, but with all the sand in the air almost every thing seemed to look the same color.

"Oh no. This doesn't look good." he thought miserably to himself.

Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the world around him. When they finally came into focus he noticed the people. Hundreds of people. Running every where. From what and to where he did not know and just as to what they were running from he could only guess. As soon as he thought the question he got some what of an answer and as he got the answer he wished he hadn't for what happened before his eyes he would never forget.

He saw a couple, a man and a woman, not much more then twenty. They were running. holding hands, completely coated in the sand from the air. Fear and panic written all over there faces and in there eyes. The woman, as much as Rodney could make out, was tall and thin but had tone to her body. She had blondish brown hair which looked like at some point had been pulled up but now it hung down her back. And her eyes were a stunning green. She wore an outfit, that if it had not been so dirty, was all white and stood out against her tan skin.

The man was a little taller then her but with the same tan skin and piecing green eyes. His hair was cut short and the color was such a dark shade of brown that it almost looked black. His build was very strong and structured. He seemed to be wearing the same white outfit as the girl. Which Rodney realized later on must have been some kind of uniform. It was just pants and a jacket with a shirt underneath it.

Rodney took in all this information instantly because right before his eyes he witnessed the cause behind the screams of pain, which he heard the two let out as he watched them. At first it just looked like the wind blowing on them but then he noticed the effect it was having on them. As it seemed to be tearing at there very skin, like it was blowing so hard that it was going through them. As he was looking at them he watched to his horror as their terror stricken faces melted into expressions of pain as the wind, or whatever it was, seemed bent on erasing them from existents. Literally blowing them away as one would blow bothersome dust off ones mantel. Till all that was left of them was a pink tint to the area where they once were running.  
Panic seized him. He was about to take off running when he heard the  
little girls scream again, but words were in it this time.

"Daddy!" a high pitched desperate scream for help and to Rodney's surprise he heard his own voice answer, it or at least what felt like his own voice. "Sari!" he screamed to her as he turned towards the direction he had heard her cry come from.

When he did, he saw her. She couldn't have been more then six. Crouched down besides  
one of the few remaining walls. She had brown hair that were in dreadlocks. Whether they were like that on purpose or because of all  
that was going on he couldn't tell. Her face was dirty with mud and what looked like a mixture of dried and fresh blood smeared all over it.  
She had what seemed to be an endless amount of cuts and bruises all over her small body. So covered in them and dirty Rodney could barely tell that she had tan skin like the others. Her outfit was just like the others except for it seemed to have blood all over it. It didn't  
look like it was her blood though. No, it looked as if some one had taken a can of blood and sprayed her with it. Then Rodney remembered how the man and the woman's blood had turned into vapor and he guessed that was how it all got there. He didn't  
even want to think about how many people this little girl had seen die like that. He had only seen two and he couldn't shake it. This girl looked like she had seen a lot more then two.

Rodney tried to think logically again to try and figure out what the heck was going but when his eyes finally met with her big blue eyes he saw the same fear and terror that he had felt reflecting out of them. And then once again he felt that love and urge to protect her come over himself. The love was so strong for this child that he could hardly comprehend the depths of it. Without a second thought he immediately ran to her and scooped her up in his arms and to his surprise what he thought was just the little girl crying he found that he to was crying along with her.

As he held her he felt relief come over him. He hadn't even realized that a large part of the fear he was feeling were for the safety of this little girl. Still holding her, he heard above all the screams and their cries the wind starting to pick up speed around them. Before he could even react the wall that they were standing next to collapsed until all that was left was a small remnant of the strong stone wall that it once was. That's when the real pain started.

As he felt the wind tare through his skin he watched as cuts formed on his hands and on the girls face and neck. He had not noticed until now, but on her neck there was a necklace with a crystal pendant around it.

Screaming from the pain he tried to get away from the wind. As he took one small step he saw out of the corner of his eye the girls necklace rip off her neck. Leaving a red and blistered mark on where it once was. When this happened  
the wind seemed to ease up a little but not much as it still with no mercy ripped through them. But it was enough for him to be able to take another step towards what was left of the wall that they were standing next to. When he did, he felt his footing give out  
as the ground fell beneath him and he felt himself along with the little girl fall down a tunnel. Sliding down the walls were smooth  
and cold to the touch, like some kind of marble. Unfortunately they were so wet from the blood that it made them pick up that much  
more speed. Down the endless tunnel they went, darkness covering their eyes. All they could hear were their own screams echoing back at them. When they finally hit the bottom, still clinging to each other, a wave of dizziness came over him and his world seemed to spin. He clung to the little girl tightly as an even darker darkness then the one that was around them cloud his vision and then he knew no more.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you to all those who reviewed ! You guys are awesome!  
I'm sorry it took so long to update. My proofreader was out of town. _

**Disclaimer-** I own nothing…..Nope nothing.

Shepard sat on the edge of the infirmary table with clenched fists. His face was twisted with pain. But  
it was not from the hot coffee that had been poured all over him. No, it was a deep inner pain. The kind that Shepard had never felt before. A pain so deep that he didn't even know it was possible to feel. A pain that can only be caused by one thing, well, really, one person…..

"I knew you would be okay. I mean all the of the stuff you go through ever day. Getting hot coffee poured all over is probably just like a walk in the park. Right?"

Shepard opened his mouth to respond but didn't even get a sound out before he was cut off.

"Of course it is. I mean I see all the missions you've been on and the way you look when you get back from them. Crazy stuff going on out there, huh?"

Shepard didn't even attempt to respond this time he knew it would be just a waste of energy.

"You know I was talking to one of your military people the other day, I think his name was Borne or maybe it was Lorne I don't really know. Its something like that, I can't really remember, but any how I was telling him about this tree that grows on this planet…."

At this point Shepard just closed his eyes and tried to find his happy place. It was all he could do to keep himself from killing this woman. Well he didn't really want kill her….but he most defiantly wanted to hurt her.

Dr. Becket looked up from his computer to John Shepard who was sitting across the room from him.  
Slowly Carson took in the scene that met his eyes.

John had a death grip on the sheets he was sitting on. His fists were so tight that Carson knew that if he was any closer he would see that his knuckles were white. But even at a distance he could still see John grit his teeth as he stared at the floor. He was staring so fixedly at one spot Carson couldn't help but to look down and see if there was anything there. As he suspected there was nothing .

He then turned his eyes towards the woman who was assisting Shepard. Her mouth looked like it was going a mile a minute and her hands seemed to be going at a snails pace. The contrast to the two speeds looked very amusing. It looked especially funny when she would flick her rather enormous hair to the side. Carson cringed when he saw her try to make hand gestures while she was still holding the ends of Shepard's bandages. His eyes immediately went to Shepard to see his response to this and to his surprise Shepard looked like he didn't even notice. But his fixed gaze on the floor had turned into a glare so Carson assumed something was going on that he couldn't see or hear from where he was standing.

"Oh, no. What's all this about? " Carson mumbled to himself.

Taking a step closer he watched as John quickly shot his head up to look at the Woman, who was helping him. His expression looked so angry that Carson immediately quickened his walk.

"Bloody hell. What is going on?" was Carson's frantic thought.

Carson didn't know this woman very well she had just come to Atlantis but a month ago. Though she had been involved with the Atlantis program for some time now. Before, she was positioned on the Dadealus' but for some reason they had transferred her here. Her name for the moment slipped his mind.

"Is every thing alright over here?" Carson asked glancing in-between the woman and John.

For a moment it looked like John was going to say something but he was interrupted by the woman.

"Oh, yes every things great over here." She said oblivious to the tension around her.  
"Just trying to get him all patched up."

"I see." Carson answered while looking over at Shepard for confirmation of her statement.

Shepard gave Carson a pleading look, hoping with all his heart that he would get the hint.

Carson in return gave John a small knowing smile. He hadn't experienced it himself but he had gotten an earful about this woman just the other day from Maj. Lorne.

"Why don't you go and check-up on the other patients. I'll finish up here." Carson said politely but very firm at the same time.

The woman was about to protest to this but Carson gave her a taste of her own medicine by cutting her off before she got a word out.

"I believe Dr. Kavanah is in need of assistance. He is there at bed number six." Carson said while pointing her in the direction she should go.

"But I…" She tried to get out but was once again cut off by Carson,. "Don't worry about it. Just go and help Dr. Kavanah." while he said this he gave he a gentle shove.

This amazingly enough worked and the woman left to "help" the unsuspecting Dr.

Shepard watched with awe and amazement as Carson had gotten rid of "the thing that wouldn't shut-up"

"I don't know which one to pity." John said shaking his head as he watched her walk towards Kavanah., "That is of course if I can pity either one of them."

"Yes" Carson replied with a sigh, "From what I've seen and heard about those two it would be a toss-up.

The two men stayed in silence for sometime as they watched the woman try an assist Kavanah.

"Well." Carson said finally snapping John out of his daze.

"Lets have a look at ya." Carson said as he started looking over all the burns

"I'm fine." John said trying to sound convincing but ended up just sounding annoyed. "Can I please leave now?" He added impatiently

Carson Becket glanced up from the bandages he was securing to his fidgety patient.

" Ya know the more you squirm the longer this going to take." Becket replied getting a little annoyed himself. "I don't understand why you're in such a rush. I thought you always avoided Rodney on your days off so that you wouldn't have to do anything for him."

"I do. Yesterday he cornered me into helping him with some stuff. He caught me off guard. I wasn't prepared for it or anything. So I had to say yes." Shepard ended gloomily.

Carson chuckled to himself as the image of Rodney cornering Lt Col. John Shepard and forcing him to do something, came into his mind.

"Yes, Rodney certainly knows how to get his way. Especially when its something he really wants." He said with a smile. "So, Why do ya need to go see him so badly?"

"Well, you see Rodney.." Shepard stopped speaking and looked expectedly at Carson.

"What?" Carson asked confused.

"Well I've been trying to tell you about Rodney since I go burnt and you keep cutting me off. So, I just wanted to make sure, before I say another word, that you aren't going to say anything until I'm finished." Shepard answered frankly.

"No I haven't" Carson said calmly in his defense.

"Have too!" Shepard shot back.

"No I have not." Carson answered trying to keep the calmness in his voice but failing as it was raised a bit higher.

"have too!" Shepard said getting even louder then before.

Carson was about to get loud himself when he thought better of it.

"Alright,. Fine. You win. Just continue with what ya were saying." Carson said giving in.

"Thank you." Shepard said with the smile of victory.

Carson stood in front of Shepard with his arms folded and the look of concern written all over his face as Shepard told him the story of his morning and Rodney's absence in it.

"well, your certainly right about it being strange that Rodney didn't show up." Carson said worriedly "Maybe I should go down with you to his quarters to make sure every things alright."

"That's not a bad idea," Shepard said while standing up, "Rodney may be sick. You know how he gets when he thinks he might have to get a shot or something."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Shepard and Carson walked down the hallway towards Rodney room. Nodding and smiling at all the Atlantis personnel who addressed them. Thankfully none of them stopped them or got in their way which John and Carson thought was just pure luck but if they were in the shoes of the people passing them by they would know why no one stopped them. For even though they were smiling and nodding to every one that said hello to them, right before they would respond to your greeting they would give you a death look saying, if you so much as hint at me to do something for you, you will regret it. So of course people took that gentle hint knowing how it feels and what would happen if they ignored it.

"Is he responding to any of your calls yet?" Carson asked

"No. Not that I expected him to. I'm gonna try Zelenka to see if he's heard anything." John answered.

Carson nodded his reply

Shepard tapped his radio, "Zelenka. This is Col. Shepard. You haven't heard anything from Rodney have you?"

"No I haven't. Have you not found anything out?." Zelenka asked.

"No. But Carson and I are about to get to Rodney's room we'll let you know when we find anything out." Shepard answered.

"Alright, thank you." Zelenka replied.

Just as John clicked off his radio they came to Rodney's room. Carson then pushed the Ancients version of a door bell.

"Rodney. You there?" John asked through the door.

No answer. Carson and John exchanged a worried glance.

"Rodney!" John yelled while banging on the door with his fists.

Carson stood there watching. His eyes going back and forth between John and the door. He didn't know what he could do. Which was a feeling he hated more then anything.

"Maybe we should just open the door." Carson suggested.

Just then they heard a crash come from inside the room.

**!Please review and tell me what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

I'm so, so, so, so sorry for taking so long to update! I have had so many papers to write for school that haven't been able to work on this story.  
(gives puppy-dog eyes) Please forgive me.  
I hope to get the next chapter done later this week. Some reviews might help speed up the next chapter… Hint, hint... Wink

Disclaimer-I don't own anything that's cool. (So, that means I don't own anything that has to do with Stargate or anything else I might write about.)

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Shepard and Carson came through Rodney's door like a bull out of a shoot, looking around frantically expecting the worse. 

"Rodney!" John yelled.

No answer.

Taking another step further into the room John spotted out of the corner of his eye what appeared to be part of Rodney's arm. The rest of him was cut out of his view , blocked by Rodney's desk.

"Oh, crap!" John mumbled to himself while making a leap over to where Rodney was.

"Medical team to Rodney McKay's quarters!" Carson shouted into his radio as he joined John who was now bent over Rodney, who was lying on the floor unconscious.

John quickly moved out of Carson's way. Thanking his good luck that the Doctor had thought of tagging along.

Taking in Rodney's condition Carson immediately started checking his vitals.

"He's got a rapid pulse, his breathing is shallow and he's burning up." Carson said aloud to help himself take hold of the situation.

"Yeah, and apparently what ever he ate last didn't agree with him." Shepard added with a brief look of disgust as he nodded towards the mess Rodney had made on the floor earlier.

Carson glanced up in the direction John had indicated and cast a worried glance to Shepard then went back to trying to assess what was wrong with Rodney.

Carson pulled his pen light out of his pocket and shined it in Rodney's eyes.

"His pupil dilates sluggishly." Carson said worriedly looking up at John who had taken to hovering over him. , anxiously waiting for some kind of diagnosis.

John tapped his radio impatiently, "Medical team, what's your position?"

"We're nearly there." said an out of breath voice over the com.

And just then, as if to make their point, the medical team came through the doorway.

"All right lets get him to the infirmary." Carson ordered trying his hardest not to sound panicked. "Easy does it." He said as they gently placed Rodney on the gurney.

As soon as they set him down Rodney immediately started to go into, what looked like, convulsions.

"Hold him!" Carson yelled.

Quickly one the nurses tried to keep Rodney's head from hitting the bars on the side of the gurney while the other two, along with Carson, tried to prevent him from falling off it.

"Doctor!" One of the nurses yelled as she kept her eyes glued to Rodney's face.

Carson followed the nurse's eyes to see what she was trying to alert his attention to.

Rodney's shaking had slowed down to a minimum. He only seemed to be having random chills. Like when you're so cold you're stiff but you still can't help but to shake all over.

However, that's not what the nurse was pointing out. It was Rodney's expression. It had turned from emotionless to pained.

Now they had all seen Rodney in pain before. Well, what Rodney said was painful. But the point is that they all knew the expression very well. However, Rodney's face was now so twisted with the appearance of distress that it alarmed every one of them. It was a look they realized they had never really seen before. Yes, they had seen a version of it. But never the real thing.

"Oh, bloody hell. This isn't good." Carson said with worry etched on his face.

Then he and another nurse turned Rodney on his side to make sure he wouldn't choke on his saliva or anything else he might have spit up.

"What!" John asked nervously, "Was it a really bad seizure? Isn't that what he just had?"

"We need to get him down to the infirmary now!" Carson ordered, "Shannon, put an oxygen mask on him!"

"Hey! I just asked a question!" John yelled in frustration.

"I realized that Colonel, but if you haven't noticed I've got a bit of a crisis on my hands at the moment." Carson replied sharply as he jogged beside the now moving gurney.

"Look, I only want to know what just happened. " John begged as he kept pace with the doctor.

"I'm not sure if it was a seizure" Carson said hurriedly "Normally when someone has a seizure they don't feel any pain. They don't feel anything. Obviously, that isn't the case for Rodney. So I have to assume that it's something else."

"Like what?"

"As soon as I know, you'll know."

Just then, Rodney started to shake more violently. In response, every one picked up the pace.

They were in complete concentration, bent on getting Rodney to their destination quickly.When suddenly the nurse, who had been holding the oxygen mask on Rodney, let out a scream as she dropped the mask and quickly backed away from him.

Every one immediately turned towards her to find the reason why she had cried out.

The nurse, Shannon, was now a few steps behind them. She had one hand over her mouth and with the other she tried to point out why she had screamed.

"What is it?"asked Johnalmost afraid of her answer.

"He…I'm not…he just…" She said pointing at Rodney.

Following the direction her finger was pointing. They all watched in shock as they witnessed why she had screamed.

At first it looked like some invisible being was slowly cutting thin slivers into Rodney's face and neck. They watched the slivers grow into cuts, which grew even bigger into slashes, getting deeper and deeper by the second.

"What on earth?" Carson said accidentally showing the fear in his voice.

"Carson?"

"I have no idea Colonel."

"Do you think its some kind of sickness? I mean, he did throw-up back there." John reminded pointing his thumb over his shoulder to the direction they had just come from.

Carson shook his head, "I don't know. However, I'm sure that what ever it is, it's not contagious.The sensors would have gone off if they had detected an out brake of any kind."

Slowly Rodney's condition improved. His shaking now had stopped completely and no new "gashes" had formed.

Shannon went and picked up the mask she had dropped and put it back on Rodney's mouth.

"Let's start moving." Carson said, "The sooner we get him to the infirmary the sooner we can get some answers.

"Dr. Becket, his lounges aren't excepting the air!" Shannon said in a panic.

Carson immediately pulled out his stethoscope and put it to Rodney's chest.

"He's not breathing!" Carson shouted, "Shannon, look in his mouth make sure there isn't anything blocking his air-way and then start bagging him, Kelly, hook him up to the heart monitor"

The two nurses quickly obeyed the orders given to them while Carson started CRP and rescue breathing.

"1,2,3.…"Carson counted out loud.

Shepard felt helpless. He didn't know what to do with himself He knew there was nothing he could do but to wait it all out for some answers.

So that's what he did looking back and fourth between Carson and Rodney, waiting for something, anything, to happen to improve the situation. Unfortunately, something did happen and from where Shepard was standing, it didn't look like avery good improvement.

Just as Carson had nodded to Shannon to pump air, Rodney started coughing. This came as a relief at first but then they all became aware that Rodney was also coughing up blood.

"Alright we need to move into the O.R now!" Carson yelled.

Quickly they rushed Rodney the rest of the way to the infirmary as Shepard ran behind them like a lost puppy.

"What do you want me to do?" Shepard almost screamed out.

"You can go an' inform Dr. Weir of the situation." Carson replied hastily while putting on his latex gloves.

"Okay," Shepard answered sadly.

It wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. He knew there really wasn't any other one to give him, but still he didn't feel very helpful.

As all the hustle left the room to go and help Rodney, Shepard found himself standing in the doorway they had left him in, alone and worried.

After a fewminutes had past Shepard took a deep breath and mumbled to himself, "How the heck am I going to explain all this to Elizabeth?"

* * *

**A/N- **Hhhhmmmm...What's going to happen next? What's wrong with Rodney? mmmwwahhaha..lol! Review and maybe I'll give you a hint in the next chapter. 


	6. Chapter 6

I started writing this chapter with the mission of answering some unanswered questions. But, I ended up just adding more questions. Sorry. Hee, hee.  
Hopefully I will have the next chapter up pretty quick. But you never know. I just got in a really bad car wreck and I don't really feel like sitting down and writing at the moment. Maybe some reviews will put me in a better mood. (gives Bambi eyes) Any how be sure to review and let me know if this is going in a good direction. I'm open to suggestions! hint, hint. lol!

**Disclaimer- I have no money. I own nothing of any value. I do not own Stargate Atlantis. I do not own a puppy or a cat or a bird for that matter. I don't even own a fish for crying out loud!  
**_(Why do they make us do these disclaimers? They really should know better.)_

* * *

Elisabeth rushed down the hallway trying not to look distressed. 

She had just finished talking to John about Rodney. To say the least she was a little shocked. Yes, she had been worried about Rodney but, she had thought that he probably had just gotten distracted with some ancient gizmo or another and had pushed it out of her mind.

"I don't understand how they do it," she thought to herself, "I can't even go one day without something happening with one or more members of my flagship team. They didn't even have a mission today."

Turning quickly into the infirmary she collided with John Shepard, who had taken up post just inside the doorway.

"Oh, I'm sorry Elizabeth." John apologized with a sheepish grin on his face, "The nurses have been telling me to sit down for fifteen minutes now. I guess I should have taken their _gentle hint _and sat down instead of blocking the doorway."

"Oh, no it's fine. I was a little….distracted." She said after regaining her balance.

Shepard managed to give a half hearted smile when Carson came into the waiting room.

Shepard and Elisabeth turned to him immediately, anxious to know about Rodney.

"How is he?" Elizabeth beat John to the question.

"Well, we've got him stable for now but, there's somethin' very……strange goin' on." Carson answered hesitantly.

Shepard and Elizabeth quickly exchanged glances of concern.

"What do you mean strange?" Elisabeth asked, "Like what?"

"Yes, like what?" Shepard added. "That is of course besides, Rodney for some reason being unconscious on the floor of his room or the fact that a bunch cuts formed right in front of my eyes out of thin air."

Sheppard counted off with his fingers.

Beckett looked at John before answering, trying to decide whether he was joking or not.

Giving up Carson shook his head, took a deep breath and finally answered,

"Well, going over all of the different cuts that the colonel and I witnessed form earlier. I noted that they were only on the skin that was not covered by clothes. I don't know exactly what that means but perhaps it will help us in the future. However, the cuts themselves are very unique little buggers. At first they looked like, to me, like someone had sliced them with a very sharp knife but the more I look at them the more it seems to be like a….tear almost."

Carson quickly looked back and forth between John and Elisabeth nervously.

" I know it sounds ridicules but that's what it looks like"

"Whoa, wait a second." Sheppard said putting a hand up, "How can skin just tear like that? I mean I've seen a lot of things before but gashes forming out of nowhere, is definitely a new one."

"I know what you mean colonel," Carson replied, "An' I don't mean to pretend that I understand any of this because I really don't. But, unfortunately, I have more to add to this already complicated case." He added putting one hand in his pockets nervously and with the other he clung tightly to his clip bored.

"After giving Rodney a full examination I've also noted that he has severe bruising. Mostly concentrated on his back, chest and arms. His head also has some swelling areas that look like he had been hit with somethin'. An' I've also noticed both his arms look like they had been rubbed raw. An' on top of that, he has a fractured rib an' his left arm is broken in two different places."

"How is that possible?" Elizabeth asked in over whelmed bewilderment.

"I have no idea." Carson replied bluntly

"Soundslike someone beat the crap out of him." stated John .

"That was my first thought," Carson answered, "But, I wont know anything for sure until I can get the results back from all the tests."

"John said something about Rodney not being able to breath then coughing up blood?"asked Elizabeth.

"Yes, apparently something hit him or he hit something hard enough, that it puncture his left lung, causing it t'fill with blood. Thankfully, we were ably to stop the bleedin' an' drain it all out before it caused any permanent damage." Carson answered.

"When do you think he'll be awake?" John asked.

"I have no way of knowin'. We're just goin' to have t'wait this one out." Carson answered sadly.

Elizabeth and John nodded that they understood, then sat down in the chairs that had been set up next to the door while Carson returned to his patient.

They just sat there trying to allow all the information thatBecket had just given themto sink in.

They were still sitting like that when Tayla came in.

"I came as soon as I heard." She said. "I have heard many different things but I do not know what exactly has happened."

"Well we aren't to sure ourselves." John answered.

"I see. Is he not ill?"

"Carson doesn't know yet." Dr. Weir sighed, "He said he wouldn't know anything for sure until all the test were run."

Tayla's face deepened with worry,

"I was told that he was found unconscious. Is that true?" She asked

"Yeah, Becket and I found him in his room."

"This is not good news." She said while sitting down in the chair next to Shepard.

The three of them just sat there. John was hunched forward with his elbows resting on his knees while his hands were clasped and his two thumbs in a battle over who could pin the other one down. On his right sat Elizabeth, who sat very straight and stiff with her eyes glued to the floor. She was holding the edges of her seat so tightly that I'm sure if anyone tried to move her they would have to take the chair as well. And Talya, who sat on John's left, sat with her eyes closed and her head leaning back against the wall. Her hands werefolded on her lap while she whispered prayers under her breath.

All faces turned towards Carson who was just about to enter the room they were all sitting in when one of the nurses yelled for him.

"Doctor Beckett!"

Carson quickly spung on his heals and went in the direction he had just come from, leaving the faithfull trio in anxious worry over what could be wrong now.

0o0o0

Darkness…_laying on something cold and hard _….flashing lights…voices…_something soft under his head_...darkness…smeared faces.…_Something warm wrapped around his shivering body_...pain….panic.

"I,…I…where am I?" Rodney could hear the fear in his own voice. "I don't remember anything!" He shouted while his voice cracked as the realization of this fact sunk in.

He felt completely detached from everything around him. He couldn't think. He could just barely see the smudged faces that hovered over him.

Suddenly out of all the unrecognizable faces that surrounded him a friendly face appeared. At least it was one he _could_ recognize.

"Rodney, don't worry. Yer goin' t'be alright ." A familiar Scottish voice spoke to him.

"Carson? I don't remember! Oh, god. Carson what happened?" Rodney said as the pure terror of the whole situation sunk in.

"I'm not sure lad." Carson answered calmly.

"What? What do you mean you're not sure? Aren't you the doctor? Your supposed always know what's wrong!" Rodney's eyes now darted all over the place as the fear finally got a choke hold on him.

Rodney watched as Carson looked up to one of the many blurry faces that occupied his now tiny world.

"Shannon can you please go get me a sedative." Carson put his hands firmly on Rodney's shoulders to prevent him from getting up.

"Carson, please, I don't understand!"

"I know. But you will…we'll figure this out." Carson tried to reassure him.

Slowly Rodney began to feel more relaxed. He was also able to think more clearly. He knew in the back of his mind that it was because of the drugs Carson had injected into him.

"You need to relax." Carson whispered.

Slowly Rodney closed his eyes as he tried to remember something, anything to give him some kind of idea as to what exactly had happened, but all he could come with were a hand full of pictures and names. Memories of cities and tunnels. He couldn't tell what was real and what was not real. What was a dream and what had really happened.

Suddenly Rodney snapped his eyes open.

"Sshari." Rodney slurredout as the drugs took full affect on him.

Carson furrowed his brows,

"Sari? Who's Sari?"

Rodney's head was swimming. His vision danced in front of his eyes. He felt his eye lids become very heavy. In a last ditch effort to speak Rodney just made out,

"gglliirrll iimmm shidy."

"I'm sorry? " Carson asked trying desperately to make out what his friend was saying.

But it was to late Rodney had passed out again.

Carson shook his head,

"Alright," He said standing up from where he had been leaning over Rodney and pointing to various personal,

"I want him to be monitored 24/7. Some one needs to be watching him at all times. Just in case he wakes up again." He ordered. "I want all the results from his tests handed to me _personally._ No leaving them on my desk. I don't care what time it is when you get them in I want them immediately, even if that means leaving the infirmary and looking for me. Understood?"

All the nurses nodded,

"Yes Doctor." They said in unison.

"Right." Carson said as he left the room to go and update the three people who were anxiously awaiting for some kind of news concerning their Chief Scientist and good friend.

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**A/N-**Pour, pitiful Rodney. What's one to do? Why not click that review button? That's a great start! lol! Now to work on the next chapter. (Rubes hands together) hee, hee, hee! 


	7. Chapter 7

_You guys were so great with the reviews! I'm sorry about it takinig another week to update. I had planned on posting it alot earlier but for some reason wasn't able to update. But it's all good now because here it is. In all it's glory. lol! I hope you like it! Remeber to review! I'm telling ya, when a reader reviews it makes the writers job so much easier. So please review! _

**Disclaimer- **Ditto to all the other disclaimers I've written._  
_

* * *

"Memory loss?" John shouted. The way he always does when he's scared and tries to hide it. "This doesn't make any sense! He was perfectly fine yesterday!"

"Well obviously that's changed Colonel." said Carson who was quite mystified by John's sudden change in behavior.

John opened his mouth to strike back, "Wha…"

"Is it a permanent memory loss?" asked Dr, Weir cutting John off to prevent him from saying anything he might regret.

In response to Elizabeth cutting him off John shot her his best _I'm really annoyed at you _glare. Which she completely ignored.

"Like I said before, I can't be certain. He _did_ recognize me, which is a very good sign." Replied Carson,

"His memory loss may have been caused because he was in shock or because he had been unconscious. In which case he wouldn't have any memory of this day because he wasn't awake to see it."

"So it is possible that he will, in time, remember again." said Teyla

"Maybe… he did have some kind of seizure which _can_ cause brain damage. But I can't be certain." Cason said sadly.

After hearing the news from Carson. John, dug his hands deeper into his pockets and turned his glare off of Elizabeth to the floor. While Elizabeth folded her arms and gave Carson her _I'm very worried_ eyes. Talya sat back down in her chair and mimicked the same position of worry that Elizabeth had a moment ago, but with a far off gaze in her eyes as she tried to comprehend the entire situation.

"I'm gonna go over the security tapes that are closest to Rodney's room." John said finally "See if I can find anything on them."

"That's a good idea John. And while your at it see if you can't find anything out of place in Rodney's room that may have caused all of this." added Elizabeth.

"Will do."

"I will go and assist you with your search." Teyla said getting up from her chair.

"And _I'll_ inform all of you as soon as I get Rodney's test results in." Carson patted John on the back as he left the room with Teyla.

"Do you mind if I sit with him for a while?" asked Elizabeth hesitantly.

"Of course not. It will be good for him see a familiar face if he wakes up." Carson smiled understandingly.

"Thank you." She said sliding behind Carson towards Rodney.

Carson let out a sigh then went back to his work which, unfortunately, did not consist entirely of Rodney McKay.

"You'd think that them all being adults that they'd take better care of themselves." Carson mumbled as he read over his chart of things to do.

As he was going through his notes he found a letter addressed to him personally. On the front was written: Urgent matter of business.

Moaning to himself Carson knew who the letter was from before he even opened it.

Slowly he tore the seal and pulled out the letter. His worried thoughts confirmed that the letter was indeed from who he thought it was from.

It read:

**To**: Dr. Carson Beckett,

_I would like to bring to your attention the numerous amount of times that I have come into your infirmary and have been ill treated by your assistants/nurses. _

_I am certain that it is not necessary, or protocol, that every time I come in for a check up, or when I come in because something ails me, that I have to get an injection in the buttocks. (Which I will remind you again that they say is "Protocol and necessary.")_

_I would also like you to take note that I have noticed that I hear laughter every time they insist upon it and when ever I give in to them. The reason being behind why I have given in on so many such _occasions_, is because I am such an important, busy man that I do not have time to argue and I just allow them to do it, with out one word of complaint. (Which they do not show any gratitude for.) However, I must put my foot down at this point. _

_I have sent a copy of this letter to Dr. Weir, Col. Sheppard and Col. Caldwell. _

_Note, I do not think Col. Sheppard nor Dr. Weir will do anything about this situation., which I have already sent a letter to the S.G.C concerning. _

_However, I assume that the next time I visit your infirmary that you will have dealt with and punished those who are responsible for my mistreatment._

**From:** Dr. Kavanah

Carson shook his head while chuckling to himself,

"Oh, yes I'll get right on that."

Strangely enough he was glad Kavanah had sent him the letter. If not for anything else but for a

momentary distraction from Rodney.

0o0o0

Elizabeth sat on the stool next to Rodney's bed. She had one foot caught up on one of the bars and the other foot she placed firmly on the floor, to keep herself from rolling about.

"What if he wakes up and doesn't remember anything." Elizabeth thought nervously to herself.

Mindlessly she rested her chin in her hand while she worriedly thought of all the _what-if's._

So lost her thoughts she didn't notice Ronon coming up behind her.

"So, how bad is he?" Ronon asked.

Elizabeth jumped when he spoke and turned to face him while bringing a hand to her heart

"Ronon." She gave an embarrassed smile, "I didn't notice you had come in"

"Sorry." he grunted.

"It's fine." She smiled reassuringly "As far as Rodney's condition….we really don't know. Carson would be the man to answer that question." She said glancing over towards Carson's office.

"Okay.… Thanks." He added over his shoulder while he walked over towards Carson. Leaving Elizabeth once again alone with Rodney.

"Rodney, how do you get your self in so much trouble" She whispered under her breath.

Sighing she stood up while picking up one of Rodney's hands. She gave it a quick squeeze before leaving to go and finish the work that she had been avoiding all day.

0o0o0

"Did Dr, Beckett say anything else concerning Rodney's condition?" Zelenka asked over the radio.

"No. Just what I already told you." answered Sheppard while stepping into one of the transporters with Teyla.

"Teyla and I are gonna go and check the security tapes. See if we can shed some light on the situation."

"You will keep me informed?" Asked Zelenka.

"Your on my top ten list of people to call first." answered Sheppard right before he clicked off his radio.

Stepping out of the transporter Telya turned to John,

"What do expect to find on the security videos?"

"No idea." Sheppard answered confidently

Perplexed, Teyla eyed Sheppard then glanced to the side as she tried to understand the Colonel's statement.

With a confused smirk she said finally, "You have no idea?"

"Yup. No idea." he said turning to her with a smile.

At this Teyla raised an eye brow in bewilderment.

"I see."

They continued walking the rest of the way to the control room in silence. Save, of course, for the heavy footsteps of Sheppard and the light weight pitter patter of Teyla.

Entering the Control room Sheppard and Teyla were met with a frantic atmosphere. Every one was trying to do their jobs and at the same time figure out what had happened to Rodney.

"Okay people." Sheppard clapped his hands, "What do ya have for me?"

Complete silence fell as all eyes turned towards him.

"This doesn't look good." Sheppard mumbled to Tayla.

"Colonel Sheppard. Tayla. " Major Lorne greeted with a nod.

Teyla bowed her head and smiled "Hello Major Lorne."

"Major." Sheppard smirked. "did you get the security tapes like I asked?"

Major Lorne gave a nervous look to the ground.

"Yeah. Sir, about the tapes." he stammered out.

"Lorne." Sheppard said warningly.

Lorne breathed out a deep sigh and blurted out,

"The tapes are blank sir."

"What do you mean there blank?"

"I don't know Sir. The tech guys were trying to explain it to me but…"

"Lorne." Sheppard cut him off.

"Yes sir."

"What tech guys?"

"Right there sir." Lorne said pointing towards two men who were amongst an enormous heap of papers with frantic expressions on their faces.

"Oh great." Sheppard thought.

"Alright. Thank you Major." Sheppard clapped Lorne on the shoulder as he walked over towards the two men.

Teyla smiled her thanks to Lorne as she followed Colonel Sheppard.

As John approached the two men he thought to himself,

"Wow, one looks just like Owen Wilson and the other looks just like Billy Crystal."

The first thing John noticed about tech guy number one (The Billy Crystal look-a-like) was that he had a long thin face and big, curly, brown hair on top of his head. The next thing he noticed was that he had a rather large nose which stood out being in-between his very small, dark colored eyes.

The second tech guy (The Owen Wilson look-a-like) had the famous coy-bow jaw line and bluish-grey, crescent shaped eyes. His dirty blond hair was cut like he was some kind of "surfer dude" and a cocky smile to go with it.

Upon noticing Sheppard's shadow looming over them the two techs looked up and smiled nervously at him.

"Alright gentleman," Sheppard eyed the techs, "What seems to be the problem?"

0o0o0

"Dr, Zelanca, The crystal pendent that SGA-2 found on P34X29 is giving off some kind of …energy signature."

"What?" a very confused Zelanca answered as he quickly rolled his chair over to where the new recruit was stationed. (His name was Dr, Ryan Brook )

Typing a few keys on his computer Zelanca confirmed Dr. Ryan's statement.

"How is that possible? I just run tests earlier." Zelanca pushed his glasses in place.

"Should I run the tests again?"

"I suppose, first find the kind of energy it gives off."

"Okey-dokey."

Puzzled by his use of words Zelanca eyed Dr, Ryan out of the corner of his eye.

Not noticing, at first Radek's stare, Ryan started typing on his computer, but once sensing the Doctors gaze he jerked his head towards him.

"What?" he asked baffled.

"Okey-Dokey?" Zelanca said very slowly to make sure he pronounced it right.

"Yeah, okey-dokey...it means the same thing as okay. Haven't you ever heard someone say that before?"

"Yes, I hear Colonel Sheppard say it. But….not scientist."

"Well, I think you'll find that I'm not your average scientist." Dr, Ryan smiled.

"I see that."

Zelanka casually glanced at his computer screen and started hitting buttons.

"I was in the military for four years before I became a scientist." Dr, Ryan stated.

"Oh." Zelanca said as if that explained everything.

"Yeeaahh" Ryan said in agreement.

Zelanca was just about to ask him what branch of military he was in when the computer, that was running the test, started beeping.

"What…." Zelanca trailed off as he started typing on the keys.

While Zelanca was working on the computer Ryan pushed his chair over to the printer, that he thought, was just spitting out random information.

Glancing over the readings Dr, Ryan called to Zelanca to get his attention.

"Doctor Zelanca!"

"Very strange. The crystal is giving off now some kind of particle. I don't know how. Maybe…."

"Doctor I think you should take a look at this." Ryan interrupted handing Zelanca the papers.

While looking over the papers Ryan had given him, Zelanca's face changed from curiosity to concerned.

Without saying a word Zelanca tapped his radio.

"Dr Weir, could you come down to lab three? I have something I think you want to see."

* * *

**A/N-** **I say-** _Hee, hee. **Now you say, **"What? No!"_ **And then I say- **_You want to know what happens? Review and all will be made clear to you... lol!_

I know I know I'm a very strange person. But then again if there wasn't any strang people then how could you tell if someone was normal? We'd all be the same. Which wouldn't be to much fun...nope not fun...kind of bland. lol!


	8. Chapter 8

_Wow! No one reviewed the last chapter. Was it really that bad? Well, I hope I do better with this one. Please review and let me know._

**Disclaimer-** I DO NOT OWN STARGATE ANYTHING! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THAT?

* * *

For awhile all he knew were the lights that were shining above him. For a time that's all that consisted of his now minuscule world.

He wasn't really thinking about anything. Mostly because he couldn't remember anything to think about. The only scrap of information that he had, that he could cling to, were his feelings. Which were as jumbled and tangled to him as old Christmas tree lights.

Then slowly, like when one remembers a dream, things, people, images started to come back to him. At first he wasn't sure if what he was remembering was real or if it had been a dream. It was like being in a thick fog and having a thousand parts to a Lego set. He felt like he had all the pieces, but no instructions on how to put it all together.

"Carson." Rodney winced as his voice sounded scratchy and hoarse coming out of his dry, parched mouth.

After waiting a few moments with no reply Rodney began to wonder if he had actually spoken or if it had all been in his mind.

"Okay," thought Rodney, "I just need to focus on remembering anything that would explain why I'm….here. Okay…I remember feeling sick. Now, was that last week? Or was it yesterday? Or maybe it was today. What's today? Oh, God how long have I been out? Days? Months? Years?

Rodney panicked. He started darting his eyes all over the room. Looking for something, anything to make sense.

Just then, within his tiny world of thick fog and blinding lights, he heard a beeping sound. He could tell by the proximity of the sound that it was quite close to him.. _Beep…Beep_..._beep_..._beep, beep…beep, beep _rapidly the beeps became closer and more frequent.

"What is that?"

_Beep…beep…beep, _they slowed back down to the slow rate that they had been at before.

Rodney flinched when an unfamiliar face of a man suddenly blocked the light above him.

The man had short, light, blond hair atop his long face and his eyebrows were such a light color that they nearly blended in with his pale skin. His eyes were a piercing blue. Which stood out against his otherwise colorless features. With a friendly smile that his eyes mimicked Rodney found comfort in this strange man.

"Aw yes, the prodigal scientist returns!" smiled the man with a thick English accent.

"What? Who are you?"

"Oh, right. Sorry old chap I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Charles, Charles Bettany." he said grabbing one of Rodney's limp hands and shaking it.

"Umm am I supposed to know you?"

"Probably not, considering I just got here."

"Uh huh, and where would _here _be?"

"Well, _here _would be the infirmary. You had some kind of accident from what I hear."

"Really?"

"Yes, don't you remember?"

"Of course I remember……maybe." Rodney added quietly to himself.

"Well then, good for you." said Charles sounding genuinely pleased "So, tell me…what happened?"

"Well, I was…in a city." Rodney strained to remember. "It was…dusty and…windy."

"Dusty and windy." Charles echoed, "You don't say. "

"You know what, I'm not even going to tell you anymore because its obvious that your not going to listen."

"Fine with me. Your decision." said Charles getting up out of the chair that he had been sitting in.

Seeing Charles standing up for the first time Rodney took into account that Charles was quite a tall man. If he had been standing up next to Rodney he would be at least an inch and half above him. While observing this fact Rodney then became aware that he was also rather skinny. And to add to the look of being thin he had very long limbs which made him look even taller then he already was. He also noticed that he wasn't wearing the typical Atlantean attire. He was in fact wearing what one would think a college professor back in the late 1940's would wear. He had on, a striped crème, blue and black sweater with a white button up shirt underneath. And to finish the ensemble, over this he wore a, 1940's style, brown over coat to match.

"I guess I'll be seeing you then." Charles made a move to leave when Rodney stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

"Well I do have work to do you know. I only stopped by to do my deeds of giving food to the weak and the hungry."

"Food?"

"Yes. Food. You know, you eat it, gives you strength, makes you feel warm and fuzzy. You know…food."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. I know what food is. You don't need to explain it to me."

"Of course I don't. I just thought I would explain it seeing how well you remembered what had happened to you so well." Charles smiled mockingly

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny."

"Awe yes. I know." Charles laughed.

Rodney was about to give him a snide remark when he heard the footsteps of one of the nurses approaching to checkup on him.

Charles turned towards Rodney and smiled. "Well, it was great meeting you but, I really must be leaving. You get your rest and all that." he said over his shoulder as he picked up a few empty trays and walked out of the room.

"Why is it that I always attract the crazy people?" Rodney thought, "It's like I have a big neon sign above my head flashing _All those crazy and insane gather here."_

Shaking his head Rodney decided to just close his eyes and wait for the nurse to come in but by the time the nurse came, which wasn't very long at all, he had already fallen back to sleep.

"Still asleep." the nurse mumbled to herself as she came towards Rodney's bed. Quickly she checked his vitals and marked them on her clip board. Sighing to herself she went to see if he would wake. "Dr. McKay.."

0o0o0

John had been talking to the two techs for nearly twenty minutes and he felt like he had gotten nowhere. They just kept talking in circles blaming it on each other. The only kind information that John had gotten out of the techs so far was that their names were Greg and Archie.

"Alright!" shouted John to quite the two bickering techs. "Now, that's enough. At this point I don't care who's fault it is. I just want to know if there's any way I can get anything off those tapes."

"No, I don't think so. For some reason the feed from the camera didn't record." explained Archie

"Yeah, but the really weird thing is" Greg pointed out, " that it all seems to be in working order. The camera was doing its job and the record drive, that's supposed to store all the data, is perfectly fine. It's almost like something blocked the circuit that links the camera to the drive."

"Something blocked the circuit. I wouldn't exactly call that perfect working order."

"Yes sir," Archie tried to explain once again, "I know that it sounds all wrong but it's not."

"Uh huh, care to explain your analogy with the rest of the class?"

"Well, if you look right here. "Greg pointed to a little blue computer chip, "You'll see the problem."

"Oh yeah, That's a…..very obvious problem "Sheppard said sarcastically

The techs gave an annoyed sigh. "If you'll just look in the left hand corner you'll see a small discolored spot." Archie tried to point out, "Do you see it?"

"Yeah, yeah I see it. What is it?"

"It's a burn out."

"What's a burn out?"

"It's what we like to call a circuit that over loads. It burns out." explained Greg

"So that's what happened? It just burnt out?"

"That's what appears to have happened, yes."

"Mind telling me how?"

The two techs exchanged a look. "We aren't sure" They said in unison.

"Of course."

"That's what's so weird about it. Normally the cause of a burn out is very obvious." Archie said while he carefully put the chip in its case,

"Okay, how long until you guys do know?"

"I don't know…a few hours at least."

"Alright, just.."

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Doctor Weir could you and Teyla join me in lab three? Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Ryan just showed me something I think you should see." Cut in Dr. Weir's voice over the radio.

"Sure thing. We're on our way." Sheppard clicked off his radio. "You boys keep me informed."

"Do you think the technicians will find anything of any use?" Asked Teyla walking besides John

"I sure hope so because at this point…we've got nothing."

"Hopefully what Dr. Zelenka has found will be helpful."

"Yeah, hopefully."

John and Teyla quickly left thecontrol room and headed for the nearest transporter to go and hear, what they hoped will be, good news from Zelenka.

* * *

**A/N-**_What do you think of the character Charles? It's really hard writing a new character. Let me know if I'm doing good or not. It's really important that I know whether you guys can connect, on some level, with this guy because he might be sticking around for awhile.  
So any ways I hope this chapter was better then the last one. Please review! _


	9. Chapter 9

_First off thank you so much for the reviews! I really was starting to worry that no one was reading anymore. (I didn't mean to make you feel guilty. I'm sorry.)And once again I'm so sorry for the time gap in my update. My proof reader is busy all the time so it's hard to get it posted. This chapter I hope will answer some questions. But, I'm not going to give anything away so..._

**_Disclaimer- _**Say it with me...I ...do...not...own...Stargate...anything!

* * *

In lab three Sheppard, Teyla and Elizabeth Weir stood in a circle around Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Ryan who were attempting to relay their discovery to them.

"Okay, I don't know about the rest of you but… I didn't understand a word they just said." Sheppard glanced around at his friends faces looking to see if any of them felt as lost as he did.

Upon seeing how he felt mirroring off their faces he spoke on, "You don't think you could translate any of that into English do you?"

Zelenka let out a frustrated sigh, "Alright, we know for sure that it's some kind of entity."

"Entity. Really?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows .

"Yes, the strange thing about it is that it has the same properties as a particle. You see normally particles don't show any kind of intelligence. But… these do. Which is what led us to the assumption that they are indeed an entity and not just fluke particle."

"What kind of intelligence are we talking about here? What exactly did…_it _do?" asked Elizabeth

"Well for one, It tried to access the main computer frame."

"Okay, so they're a threat." Sheppard's fingers lightly brushed against his gun he insisted on wearing at all times.

"I think we should assume that, yes. Just to be safe."

"Now hold on." Elisabeth gestured for them to stop, "Lets not assume anything. I don't really want to make anymore enemies then I already have. If they are intelligent then finding a way to communicate with them should be our first priority."

"And if they turn around while we're trying to shake their hand and shoot at us. We…"

"I get it colonel." Elizabeth squinted at John then turned towards Zelenka, "Precede with caution."

"Of course." Zelenka nodded.

"I am sorry but…I do not fully understand how exactly this effects Dr. McKay." admitted Telya .

All eyes turned towards the two scientists who exchanged a look.

Finely Dr. Ryan, who had been silent the entire time, spoke up.

"From what we can tell the crystal was used as some kind of containment vessel for them. Now Dr. McKay was the one who ran the initial tests on it. Which is what we think…woke it up. And considering he ran them just last night and we found him this morning in the condition he's in…well, I think you guys can see the uncanny connection."

"So, don't you think that's proof enough that their not friendly?" Sheppard turned to Elizabeth while gesturing in the direction the crystal was in.

"Until I get some _facts,_ not theories I will order a containment crew to deal with it. But until then my opinion stands."

"Alright then," Zelenka picked up his computer. "I'll get team together."

"Sounds good." Elizabeth smiled, "Keep us informed."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Daddy!"

Rodney snapped his eyes open. His eyes quickly surveying the room, always expecting to see the little girl. He could almost sense her presence. He could already see the need that he knew would be in her big, blue eyes. And every time he looked in a different direction he expected to see her. But all he found was an empty room.

Coming to terms with this fact he felt his heart ace, his chest tighten and his stomach twist into a tight knot.

"What is wrong with me?" mumbled Rodney, "She doesn't even exist."

"Who doesn't exist?" came a voice with a thick English accent.

Rodney quickly jerked his head in the direction the question came from. There, as he suspected, stood Charles Bettany. With his arms folded while leaning lazily against the doorway.

"What?"

"I said, who doesn't exist?"

"Oh um…no one. I was just…it's none of your business!"

"Alright, fine. Don't get all jumpy!"

"Jumpy? I'm not jumpy."

"Sure you are."

"I am not jumpy."

"Alright fine. If you don't want to believe that your jumpy then don't believe it."

"I am not…"

Charles smiled and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"You're impossible."

"Aw yes." Charles chuckled lightly as walked towards Rodney. "You feeling any better?"

"No. I have a headache."

"Sorry to hear that. Have you told a nurse?"

"Well if there were any around. I would have asked already. But, seeing how there isn't any..." Rodney waved his hands in the air to indicate the nurses absence.

"Well, aren't you in a pleasant mood."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Nothing I just thought I would stop by and see how you were doing. I am actually, contradicting to your popular beliefs, a really nice guy."

"Hah, what do you know about my beliefs?"

"Well for one..."

Charles was cut off by the nurse Shannon who had just come into the room and had promptly dropped an empty tray on the ground.

Rodney squeezed his eyes shut as the loud noise from the tray set off a fireworks show in his head that would put old Gandalf the Gray to shame.

"You alright?" Charles gently whispered noticing Rodney's pained expression.

"Oh yeah, just got a light show going off in my head." Rodney cringed, "Do you think you could ask the nurse to get something for my headache for me?"

"Sure thing." Charles patted Rodney on the shoulder. "Excuse me!" Charles yelled to the nurse across the room much to Rodney's dismay.

"Hello! I said excuse me! I think she's deaf Rodney. Nurse! Hello!

"Stop yelling!" Rodney held his head. "Why can't you just _go_ and ask her?"

"What? And leave you by yourself? I wouldn't think of it. Maybe if I throw something at her." Charles picked up a discarded cap to an unknown tool.

"What? What are doing? Just go and ask her."

"Nah. It wont take but a moment this way."

With a flick of the wrist Charles chucked the cap at the nurse whom which he missed by a long shot hitting another tray full of empty medicine bottle that were sitting on a shelf above her. Which of course came crashing down. Giving off the sound of a thousand marbles being thrown to the ground.

"Oh..." Charles ducked behind Rodney's bed.

Slamming his eyes shut Rodney retreated under his blanket.

"Maybe if I pretend to be asleep she wont suspect me." thought Rodney after he saw Charles hide.

The nurse quickly looked around the room to see if someone was playing a joke on her. Seeing no one but Rodney (who she thought was asleep) She hurriedly picked up the empty bottles and walked out of the room.

"She gone?" Charles whispered behind Rodney's bed

"Yes she's gone. Coward..."

"Coward! Who's a coward? Don't think I couldn't see you ducking under your covers when she looked this way. And anyways how was I supposed to know that would happen. All those bottles falling on her head like that. Quite tragic." Charles cracked into laughter as the comedy of situation finally sunk in.

"Stop laughing." Rodney tried to suppress the smile he felt creeping up on his own face.

Charles laughed even harder.

"Stop I'm serious!" Rodney cracked a smile.

Charles was now laughing so hard that he had to hold himself up on the edge of Rodney's bed.

"Stop! I have a headache." Rodney started cracking-up.

Finally giving in Rodney joined Charles in his hysterics.

"Ow, ow. Stop. It hurts to laugh." Rodney tried to regain control.

Finally, after a great battle, their laughter died down somewhat.

"I guess that Sir Isaac Newton fellow was right." Charles just barley got out. "That whole gravity thing is for real."

This comment sent both men back into the hysterics.

"Ouch." Rodney hissed as their laughter once again subsided.

"Well, I think I've done enough damage for one trip." said Charles after he had finally caught his breath, "I'd better be going."

"Okay."

Charles turned to walk away but was stopped by Rodney.

"Hey, Charles."

"Yes Rodney."

After much hesitation Rodney finally blurted out, "Thank you for visting."

"Don't mention it. You know what they say _a friend in need, is a friend indeed_. I'll see you around."

Rodney nodded his head in response to his new, strange friend.

Smiling to himself Rodney thought, "This is going to be one interesting friendship."

Turning on his side Rodney closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, hoping that a nurse would come in soon so that he could get something for his headache.

* * *

**A/N- **I know, I know I left a bunch of unanswered questions. I could really use your help though in answering them. Because as the writer I don't know what the reader is thinking. Like what questions that really need to be answered and the ones that don't. And I really need to hear some input about the character Charles Bettany! Good? Yes? no? Also please review to let me know if this chapter was any good or not. My goodness I'm sounding very demanding. That's not good. Please forgive the bluntness. You guys are awesome! 


	10. Chapter 10

_Hey guys I'm so sorry for being late on the update. (I normally update on Friday) I had Family come down to visit me from out of town and was unable to post anything. Then when I was able to this Document editor thing would notlet me upload any thing! Uhg! It's been quite stressful!  
__Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter! You guys are so wonderful. I know I keep onsaying that. But, it's true. Anyhow I got quite a few questions about whether Charles Bettany was real or not. My answer:assume what you wish...whether it is right or wrong;)_

**Disclaimer- **Ani lo pratee StarGate Atlantis mashehoo! (I don't own StarGate Atlantis anything!)  
Thatisn't gibberish…..it's Hebrew.

Hee, Hee….I lived in Israel for quite few years…..so you'll have to excuse the outbreak in Hebrew.  
(I say if Zelenka is aloud to do it in Czech I can do it in Hebrew! lol!)

* * *

Lab three and four were so crowded with scientist that it looked like a traffic jam during rush hour.  
There was a lane of scientist going at a snails pace for no apparent reason. A lane of scientists who were just rubber-necking as they slowly walked past the test tubes, gawking at them as if they had never seen anything like it before. Then of course there was the usual road rage between Dr. Kavannah and another scientist about how he was right and everyone else was wrong.

Dr. Carson Beckett stood in the doorway of lab three, trying to muster his courage to enter the already crowded, freeway like atmosphere of the lab. But, seeing no other way around it he hesitantly stepped inside. Making him resemble a little Kitten coming out of its cardboard box for the first time (minus of course the curiosity part).

"Dr. Zelenka better have a good reason for making me come down here." thought Carson.

"Ah yes, Doctor Beckett!" Dr. Zelenka shouted from the other side the room as if to answer Carson's last thought, "You come this way."

Not feeling up to shouting Carson just nodded his head to Zelenka to say that he understood.

Carson took one step towards the waiting scientist and was nearly knocked down to the floor when a speeding scientist sideswiped him in his rush to go…where ever it was that he was going.

Now Carson had never gotten into the whole video game thing but, he suddenly felt like he was in a game of frogger as the distance between him and Zelenka seemed to have widened and the flow of the scientists had quickened

"Seems like I'm gonna have to tell the scientists to cut back on the caffeine." Carson thought, "I'm sure that will go over real well. But if someone else runs into me like that again I don't think I'd mind doin' it much."

Taking a deep breath Carson lunged into the sea of sleep deprived, caffeine high, ego centric scientists.

Carefully he navigated himself around the teeming bodies. Trying to avoided any kind collision, which the others did little to prevent as they just continued to plow on through without any thought to anyone else.

Carson witnessed quite a few "collisions" that he knew would need some kind of medical treatment. Well, at least a band-aid.

"It's a wonder I don't see more scientists then I already do." mumbled Carson

With one last dodge and a jump Carson finally got to where Dr. Zelenka was working.

"What is it exactly you need my help with so urgently?" Carson gasped out as he tried to catch his breath from his mad-dash across the lab.

"Well, I assume you were informed all about crystal. Yes?" Zelenka turned to face Carson as he cleaned off his glasses.

"Crystal? I wasn't told anything about a crystal." Carson glanced around to see if it was laying somewhere he could see.

"No one told you about crystal?" Zelenka stated to ramble off in Czech, "Alright, sga-2 find crystal on P34X29 from what we can tell it was used like container for a kind of entity. We think maybe to transport them somewhere. We're not sure."

"Wait," Carson was really getting confused now, "transport them? Transport them where?"

"We don't know. That's why we are not sure."

Carson meditated for a moment on what Zelenka had just told him, "Alright, continue."

"Okay, we know Rodney was the one who run test on crystal last night."

"You think that whatever happened to him was caused by this…crystal?"

"We think so, yes. You see after Rodney run test he made a log of all that he had found out about crystal. But…for some reason…we can't open it."

"Why? Did he put a lock on it? Or did someone else?" Carson was really starting to get worried.

"Someone might have but…they would have to know Rodney's codes. And seeing how unlikely that would be the real question is…why would Rodney do it."

"Alright, so what do ya need me for?"

"Well, who ever did code made it very…sophisticated. Where is most codes are all numbers this one seems more then that.

""Care to explain a little better?"

"The code was processed through the Ancient data base. In doing so who ever made the code was able to put a block on it for anyone who did not have gene. We think maybe….since you have gene…."

"What? Now wait a second. Can't ya get colonel Sheppard to do it for ya? I mean he's much better at that kind of thin'." Carson started baking away.

"Colonel Sheppard is busy. All you have to do is try and activate log while we try and break code. It will only be for short time."

"And nothing bad will happen if I mess up?"

Zelenka thought for moment, "Nothing I can think of."

Carson sighed in defeat, "All right. Where is it?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Dr. McKay.." nurse Shannon gently shook the sleeping Rodney McKay.

"mmmhhhfff" Rodney protested to be woken up.

"I'm sorry Doctor but you have to wake up."

Rodney just barley opened his eyes when the light that met them sent ice-hot pulses of pain through his eyes straight to his already throbbing head.

Holding his head Rodney mumbled, "Lights…"

"Oh, I'm sosorry Doctor." Shannon quickly dimmed the light above Rodney.

"Oh, it's fine…It's not like I wasn't in enough pain before." Rodney caked his words in sarcasm.

Shannon huffed in annoyance, "How do you feel exactly?"

"Are you kidding me? Well lets see. Besides having a killer migraine and aching in places that I didn't even know I had, I'm doing just peachy how about you?"

"I'll see what I can find for you." Shannon turned to leave.

"Yeah, that's great idea. Why didn't you think of it earlier? Oh, yeah because you were never around. You know if Carson finds out about that I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy."

Shannon quickly spun around to face him again. "Excuse me? Look, I've got alot of things to do around here. I did my job. All you've been doing is sleeping."

"Sleeping? Well that figures considering when ever I was awake _you weren't here_!" Rodney raised his voice whichhe immediately regretted as itpushed the pain level in his head up quitea few notches.

Finally after the pain subsided somewhat Rodney was able to open his eyes again. And as soon as he did he saw why the pain had dimmed down so quickly. Shannon was putting some kind of medicine in his IV.

"Feel better?"

"I guess so."

"Good. I'm going to go and get some more medicine for you . Do you think you'll be okay or do you stillfeel thatyou need me to stay here with you?" Shannon said half mockingly half serious.

"I'll be fine." Rodney squinted his eyes.

"Alright then. I'll be right back."

As Shannon quickly walked out of the room she nearly collided with Charles Bettany who was holding a small covered tray.

"Oh, I beg your pardon." Charles scooted out of her way just in time.

Shannon looked up at Charles squinted her eyes then just continued on her way.

"Rodney," Charles spoke while he continued to watch Shannon as she walked away, "I think your bad mood is contagious."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Go away."

"Go away? I come all the way down here with wonderful food for you and you tell me to go away."

"Yes…food? What kind of food?"

"Oh, now you like me. I see how it is."

"Can you please just show me?"

"Alright, alright. Only because you said please"

Charles lifted the cover off the tray as he pointed out to Rodney what everything was.

As Charles was talking Rodney suddenly heard the little girl again.

"Daddy!"

Rodney looked up from the food to see if Charles had heard the little girl as well. When he saw that Charles was still talking about food and hadn't even taken a breath he thought it was safe to assume that he had heard nothing.

"Daddy!"

Rodney turned his head to the opposite side that he and Charles were on and there to his shock and surprise stood the little girl. Her brown dreadlocks matted to her face and her bright red lips pursed together. She stood shivering while hugging herself with that pleading look in her ice blue eyes that Rodney knew so well.

"What the...?"

* * *

**A/N-** Bum...Bum…Bum. lol! Thoughts? Comments? Opinions? All are welcome! Do you guys like how the story is going? Getting better? Worse? Leave me a review and let me know! Oh, and anymore feelings/comments about the Charles Bettany character are most welcome:) 


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